A
beautifully crafted animated film, inspired by Antoine de Saint­‐Exupéry’s beloved 1942
masterpiece, THE LITTLE PRINCE will
be released in theatres across the Philippines
on December2.

One of the biggest animated movies to launch
from Europe this year, this innovative project is directed and produced by Mark
Osborne, who co­‐ directed DreamWorks’ Oscar­‐nominated
movie “Kung Fu Panda”.

An
international team of extremely talented animated
feature film professionals was drawn to both Paris and Montreal to create the
film, which features a stellar voice cast of international actors, including Jeff Bridges (The Aviator), RachelMcAdams (The Mother), Marion
Cotillard (The Rose), James Franco
(The Fox), Albert Brooks (The
Businessman), Mackenzie Foy (The
Little Girl), Benicio DelToro (The Snake), Ricky Gervais (The Conceited Man), Paul Giamatti (The Teacher), Bud
Cort (The King) and Riley Osborne
(The Little Prince).

THE LITTLE PRINCE is
a loving tribute inspired by Antoine de Saint­‐Exupéry’s hugely popular and beloved 1942 novella, which has been
translated into more than 250 languages and has sold over 145 million copies
worldwide. The film centres onthe
friendship between an eccentric old Aviator (Jeff Bridges) and the very grown­‐up young girl who moves in
to the house next door with her extremely grown­‐up Mother (Rachel McAdams). Through the pages of
the Aviator’s book and his drawings, the Little Girl (MackenzieFoy) learns the
story of how he long ago crashed in a desert and met the Little Prince (Riley Osborne), an enigmatic boy from a
distant planet. The Aviator’s experiences and the tale of the Little Prince’s
travels to other worlds bring the Little Girl and the Aviator closer as they
embark on a remarkable adventure together.

The
screenplay for THE LITTLE PRINCE was written by Irena Brignull (“The Boxtrolls”) and Bob Persichetti based on a story conceived by Mark Osborne. The world of the Little Girl and her Mother are
rendered in the very “grown­‐up” style of CG animation, used cleverly as a
framing device for the classic story of TheLittlePrince,
which comes to life in a very “childlike” technique of stop­‐motion
animation, representing the eyes and imagination of the Little Girl. The film’s
music is composed by Hans Zimmer.

The
long, rewarding journey to adapt Saint­‐Exupéry’s
classic work into a modern animated film began over eight years ago when French
producers Aton Soumache, Dimitri Rassam and Alexis Vonard got the go­‐ahead from Olivier d'Agay, president of the
Saint­‐Exupéry Estate, to develop a theatrical feature
based on the property.

“We felt an enormous responsibility to
do justice to this timeless novel, whichis
loved by so many people around the world,” says Soumache. “Anyone who reads the book has their own
personal impression of the Little Prince and his world, so it’s not possible to
do a straight­‐forward adaptation. I remember my father
reading the book to me even before I went to school, and many people have a
very strong personal connection to this work. So it was very important for us
to find a director who could imagine a new way of approaching this book.”

Producer
Dimitri Rassam points out, “Since the book is so well known and loved
all over the world, we felt that we needed to find a director who would be very
respectful of the property, but would be able to deliver an entertaining, bold
vision as well. It was important that the creative team would be respectful of
the book’s fundamentals but didn’t feel shackled by it.”

Both
Soumache and Rassam believe that they struck gold when American director Mark
Osborne agreed to helm the movie. “At
first Mark didn’t want to even think about it because it was too important a
work, but we knew he could do a
great job,” says Soumache. “He had
already directed DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda” which featured two very crucial
Chinese cultural elements—Kung Fu and the panda—and that movie was unanimously
loved and praised in China. He had found a way to take that subject very seriously. When he agreed to think
about The Little Prince, he went away and thought very hard about it. Six months
later, he came back with a pitch
that blew us all away.”

Osborne
had created a new story around the original material, which allowed everyoneto revisit The Little Prince through the eyes of the Little
Girl next door. “We were very lucky to
have Mark, who is a talented director with such a clear vision lead the way,” says Soumache. “The fact that we are able to tell the story of the Prince using stop­‐motion
animation adds another wonderful layer to the film. We see the familiar
illustrations by Saint­‐Exupéry
come to life in a real, tangible way.”

“Towards the beginning of the movie,
when the Little Girl discovers the Aviator’s book for the first time, we see
this stop­‐motion world through her eyes, and it’s
a very emotional moment,” notes Soumache. “You really get a strong
connection between the CG­‐animated world of the Little Girl and
the stop­‐motion universe of the Little Prince. It pays a wonderful
tribute to the book.”

“First and foremost, Mark wanted to make
a great movie, but the book and its
message were both very close to his heart,” says Rassam. “I’ve seen the movie many times now, and
it makes me cry every time. As a father of a three­‐year­‐old
daughter, it really resonates with me, just as it did when my parents read the
book to me when I was young. THE LITTLE PRINCE unites the family around a great
story. I believe thatis the heart of
our movie.”